Can't find channel recommendation inside InSSider 5.2.18

#1

hi all,
Sorry for asking such a stupid question.
I used to be able to see channel recommendation in inSSider 4 but i couldn’t find it in inSSider 5.

Could anyone guide me here?

thank you in advance.

#2

Hi, welcome to the MetaGeek Community–that’s a great question! You aren’t missing anything, we really did remove the channel recommendations in inSSIDer 5. The reason we did that is that there is a whole lot of “it depends” that goes into a channel recommendation. InSSIDer 5 will still tell you if you should be using a different channel than you currently are.

As far as the “it depends,” here’s a bit more info.

For 2.4GHz, it is pretty simple: just use channel 1,6, or 11, and it probably doesn’t REALLY matter which of those 3 you pick. 2.4 GHz is pretty saturated in most places. If one of those 3 channels does have lower utilization or clients, that would be the one to choose. As a general rule, you should avoid using 2.4 for anything mission critical.

On 5 GHz, there are a LOT of different factors, including whether you want to use DFS channels, whether you need or want 20, 40 or 80 MHz channel widths and whether you need a channel plan for different channels for multiple APs or mesh nodes (or whether they all use the same channel). InSSIDer doesn’t know all those factors, which is why it no longer has the recommended channel.

In future inSSIDer version, we’ll be gathering more information about your network needs and expanding the channel advice to better meet your needs. In the meantime you can read a bit more about channel planning in our knowledge base and WiFi Education section.

1 Like
#3

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Best regards,

Andreas